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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24282379">X-Wing: The Codakk Scheme</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadedScribe/pseuds/shadedScribe'>shadedScribe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Homestuck, Star Wars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Crossover, Gen, Multi, Space Battles, based more on Legends Star Wars, specifically Stackpole and Allston's X-wing novels, why do they bother giving Barzum and Baizli seperate character tags?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:27:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,343</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24282379</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadedScribe/pseuds/shadedScribe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Battle of Endor has been won, and the Emperor is dead. As the fledgling New Republic strives to drive the remnants of the Empire from the galaxy, Commander Feferi Peixes is assigned to put together a new X-Wing squadron of highly skilled pilots in order to help attack Imperial garrisons in the Outer Rim. But almost as soon as the new squadron comes together, they find themselves caught up in a dangerous mission to stop a renegade Moff from putting a dangerous arms cache in the wrong hands. Now they must use all of their skills to survive behind Imperial lines, and put a stop to the Moff's schemes before it's too late.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jade Harley/Aradia Megido</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>God I have like twelve WIPs. So of course here's another one for the pile! Quarantine kills my ability to focus on any particular piece, so I tend to jump around. But don't worry, none of my stuff is abandoned. Anyway, there's more characters in this, of course, but I'll wait to add them until they actually show up. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Captain Kanaya Maryam of the Rebel Alliance (wait, no, it was the New Republic now, she kept forgetting) stood patiently at attention outside Commander Peixes’ office, waiting for her to show up to brief Kanaya on her place in the new squadron being formed. Kanaya had been waiting for a while actually. Perhaps she shouldn’t have shown up so early, but it was a hard habit to break; back on Mirial, punctuality had been considered such a virtue that showing up ‘only’ five minutes early for a meeting could get you dirty looks.</p><p>Kanaya passed the time by meditating a little, and a few minutes later footsteps rang out from down the hall as Peixes, a tall, fuschia-skinned Nautolan woman, approached.</p><p>“Captain Maryam.” she greeted Kanaya warmly when she saw her. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”</p><p>“It isn’t a problem, Commander.” said Kanaya, saluting. “It is still-” she glanced at her chrono “-seven minutes until we were supposed to meet.”</p><p>“Please, feel free to call me Feferi.” said Peixes, as she ushered Kanaya into her office and offered her a seat.</p><p>“If you would prefer it, Comman- I mean, Feferi. You can call me Kanaya as well.”</p><p>Feferi smiled. “Thanks. I’ve spent more than enough time standing on ceremony in my life.”</p><p>That was right, Feferi was some sort of defected princess, wasn’t she? Kanaya forgot the exact details; she would have to look it up later.</p><p>Feferi pulled a sheet of flimsi out of a folder and looked it over.</p><p>“We’re just waiting for one more person and then- oh, hello, Lieutenant.”</p><p>Kanaya turned around to see a Twi’lek woman with red skin and a cheerful smile walk into the office.</p><p>“Kanaya, this is Lieutenant Aradia Megido.” said Feferi. “Lieutenant-”</p><p>“Aradia is fine.”</p><p>“-this is Captain Kanaya Maryam.”</p><p>Aradia shook Kanaya’s hand and sat down. Feferi glanced over the flimsi one more time before turning her attention on the two of them.</p><p>“Alright, so I’ve been assigned to build a new squadron here, and after looking through the personnel I’ve got to work with, it appears that the two of you are by a fair margin the best and most experienced pilots in the bunch. So unless you have any objections, I’ll be making the two of you the flight leaders.”</p><p>“Works for me.” said Aradia.</p><p>“Likewise.” Kanaya agreed. She was rather used to the position, after all.</p><p>“Great!” Feferi continued. “Also, Kanaya, if you’re up for it, I’d like to have you as the unit’s XO, since you were the XO for Comet Squa…” She trailed off, wincing.</p><p>Kanaya sighed. Comet Squadron, her old unit, had suffered very badly during the Battle of Endor; there had been only three survivors including herself, and poor Tavros wasn’t going to be flying again anytime soon even if they did manage to scrounge up some prosthetic legs for him. Feferi was clearly worried about accidentally touching a sore spot.</p><p>“While I appreciate your concern,” Kanaya said, “my squadron-mates are not the first friends that I have lost to the Empire, and I have had quite some time to come to terms with it in any case. I would be happy to serve as this unit’s executive officer.”</p><p>Feferi smiled. “Thanks. In that case, let's assign some wing pairs. Kanaya, I assume you want to keep flying with Vantas?”</p><p>“If that can be arranged.”</p><p>“And I’d like to keep Sollux on my wing, though if you need to use him to babysit some rookie I understand.” said Aradia.</p><p>“No worries, there’s no one who really needs babysitting.” said Feferi. “Everyone’s got at least a few engagements under their belts here.”</p><p>Kanaya raised an eyebrow. “I thought that the new squadrons being formed were being made with a mix of experienced and novice pilots in order to improve training?”</p><p>“Most of them are,” Feferi explained, “but for our unit, command wanted a group of skilled and experienced pilots capable of handling dangerous missions or taking on small-scale elite operations by themselves.”</p><p>Aradia paused to think about that for a second. “Isn’t there already a…?”</p><p>“Rogue Squadron can’t be everywhere.” said Feferi. “More importantly, Rogue Squadron is going to be attached to the push towards Coruscant, while we’re going to be sticking around in the Outer Rim, where a lot of Imperial garrisons are sufficiently small and isolated that a single X-wing squadron can tip the tide a lot of the time.”</p><p>“Well, that’s nice.” said Aradia. “Sounds like we’ll be seeing plenty of action then.” She looked pretty eager about it, if you asked Kanaya.</p><p>“For sure.” Feferi agreed. “In any case, Aradia, you’ll get Captor and the Soleil twins, and Kanaya, you can take Leijon and Zahhak. I’ll put Jonjet on my wing and put Koriga and Roixmr together, and that ought to work. Does that sound good to you guys?”</p><p>“I don’t see any problems.” Aradia said, looking over the appropriate files.</p><p>Kanaya took a quick look for herself. Leijon and Zahhak had defected to the Rebellion together a little bit before Endor, and had served quite well since then. Both were aces; Zahhak was a former Imperial pilot, but that wasn’t as unusual as one might expect in the New Republic. Kanaya didn’t see any reason to object to the two of them.</p><p>“This should work fine.” Kanaya agreed.</p><p>“Great! Now we just need to pick a squadron name.” said Feferi. “Any suggestions?”</p><p>“Hm.” Kanaya glanced at Feferi for a moment. “Fuschia Squadron?”</p><p>Feferi made a face. “Way too royal sounding.”</p><p>“Nova Squadron?” suggested Aradia.</p><p>“That’s taken.” said Feferi.</p><p>“Flare?”</p><p>“Same.”</p><p>“What was your previous squadron called?” Kanaya asked.</p><p>“Wave Squadron, but I let Bronya keep the name for the new squadron she was assigned to put together.”</p><p>“Well, perhaps we can keep to a similar theme.” Kanaya suggested. “Surge? Swell? Torrent? Current?”</p><p>“Ooh, I like Torrent.” said Aradia.</p><p>“Torrent Squadron.” Feferi mused. “Yes, I like the sound of that. Good suggestion, Kanaya.”</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>Feferi glanced at the chrono. “We’ll have our first full squadron meeting at 0900 tomorrow, then. I’ll schedule some time on the simulators to get everyone a chance to fly with each other a bit too. See you then.”</p><p>Kanaya saluted and left Feferi’s office, Aradia close behind her.</p><p>“Pardon my asking,” said Kanaya, “but it seems as though you’re rather eager to get into the action.”</p><p>“Oh, yeah.” Aradia agreed. “I’ve been on boring patrol duties for way too long. I’m really looking forward to getting to blow some stuff up again.” She smiled, in a way that made her look kind of dangerous.</p><p>“I see.” Kanaya said. “I must confess that I’m looking forward to the chance to strike meaningful blows against the Empire again.”</p><p>“You said it.” Aradia said. “Say, if we’re going to be flight leaders, we should get to know each other. You want to grab dinner with me and Sollux?”</p><p>“It would be my pleasure. I’ll call Karkat and we can all commiserate about the quality of the mess hall food together.”</p><p>“Sounds fun.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Quick helpful reminders: Orn Free Taa was Ryloth's senator in the Clone Wars cartoon. You may remember him as the fat guy who got all pissy about leadership with the actual resistance leader during the Ryloth arc. The Gozanti-class cruisers are those little ships with the four TIEs hanging under them that show up all the time in Rebels, like in the episode where they blow up one carrying a kyber crystal. </p><p>Also, some of Torrent Squadron is filled out using Friendsims characters because I have some plans for some of the other Beta Trolls that have them in different roles. Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Karkat Vantas took a second to flex some of the tension out of his fingers as he waited in the cockpit of his X-Wing for the Imperial forces to arrive.</p><p>It was Torrent Squadron’s first field mission together, though they had gotten some practice in on the sims first. Intel had gotten wind of a cargo ship bringing vital supplies of anti-starfighter weaponry to Imperial forces on Ord Cestus, and had sent Torrent Squadron to intercept it as it came out of hyperspace for a course correction in the Axxila system.</p><p>The cargo ship would be escorted by a pair of <em>Gozanti</em>-class cruisers, each carrying four TIE fighters; a small force, well within the capacity of a single X-Wing squadron to destroy, if they had the advantage of surprise and knew what they were doing, and Torrent Squadron had both of those things on their side.</p><p>Karkat took another glance around; the Imperials ought to arrive any minute now. Right on cue, the three ships popped out of hyperspace, a short flight away; they hadn’t known the exact spot the Imperials would be exiting hyperspace at, so they had just picked a spot that was close to all of the likely possibilities. The cargo ship was in the middle, with one cruiser in front and one behind.</p><p>“Move in.” Commander Peixes ordered. “S-foils to attack position.”</p><p>Torrent Squadron swooped in to attack, engines roaring. The eight TIE fighters docked under the cruisers detached and moved to intercept them.</p><p>“One Flight, on me, we’ll take the TIEs in front.” said Feferi. “Two Flight, get the ones in back, Three Flight, start on the cruisers.”</p><p>“Copy, Torrent Lead.” Kanaya answered, turning towards their targets. Karkat and the rest of the flight followed suit, and the enemy TIEs altered course to intercept them.</p><p>“The usual, Five?” Karkat asked Kanaya as they came into attack range.</p><p>“I don’t see why not, Six.” Kanaya answered.</p><p>Karkat nodded and started firing at one of the pair of TIEs coming at him and Kanaya. TIE fighters were nimble enough that he probably wouldn’t have much luck trying to hit it at this range, but that was alright. He intentionally aimed his shots a bit to the right, trying to encourage the TIE to dodge to the left, which it did.</p><p>Straight into Kanaya’s anticipatory laser blast.</p><p>As its wingmate exploded, the second TIE fighter found itself rather outmatched, and tried to turn away. Kanaya followed its turn and put herself right on its tail, the TIE desperately twisting and jinking to avoid her shots. The enemy fighter made for the cruisers, probably hoping that one of their laser turrets could drive Kanaya away, but said turrets were rather occupied trying in vain to shoot down Three Flight, who were all flying in dizzying evasive patterns around the enemy ships.</p><p>A little ways off, the other two TIE fighters closed in on Torrents Seven and Eight. One of them went head on at Seven, Nepeta Leijon. That TIE pilot must have been a rookie; between the X-Wing’s shields, superior firepower, and generally more rugged construction, going head to head with one in a TIE fighter was usually suicide.</p><p>Sure enough, the one going at Nepeta only managed to skim a single ineffective shot off of her forward shields before catching a quad laser blast square in the cockpit and exploding. As Nepeta flew on through the fireball, the other TIE turned to take a shot at her, putting one of its solar panel wings right in front of Eight, Equius Zahhak. Equius obligingly fired a few laser blasts, shredding the TIE’s wing and sending it spinning away in a death spiral.</p><p>Back by the cruisers, the TIE that Kanaya was chasing finally ran out of tricks, and one of her shots blew apart the engines and reduced the rest of the ship to a cloud of debris. Meanwhile, as the rest of her flight distracted the gunners on the rear cruiser, Torrent Nine, Aradia Megido, swooped in at the ship’s stern and put a pair of proton torpedoes right in the engines. The cruiser obligingly exploded.</p><p>As the last TIE fighter from the front group died under Feferi’s lasers, the cargo ship turned to flee, while the remaining cruiser positioned itself between it and the X-Wings.</p><p>“Two Flight, let’s give it a salvo.” Kanaya ordered, flying towards the cruiser.</p><p>The rest of them fell in, dodged a few shots from the cruiser’s two laser turrets, and fired a pair of torpedoes each. None of their shots hit a vital spot like Aradia’s had, but with the <em>Gozanti</em>-class cruiser’s underpowered shields it didn’t really matter; the ship was reduced to a flaming wreck. The squadron quickly caught up to the fleeing cargo vessel.</p><p>“Imperial cargo ship,” Feferi transmitted on an open channel. “We’d prefer to take you intact, but if it’s between letting you get away or vaporizing you we’re picking the second one. Power down and surrender.”</p><p>There was a second’s delay, and then the cargo ship slowed to a halt.</p><p>“Don’t shoot, Rebels.” came the return transmission. “We surrender.”</p><p>“Good move. Hold your position and prepare to be boarded.” Feferi broke off the transmission and sent out a new one to the unarmed shuttle with a few New Republic troops on board that had been waiting just outside the system until all of the Imperials that could actually shoot back were dealt with. “Retriever One, you’re free to come in.”</p><p>They waited near the cargo ship for a few minutes as the shuttle docked with it so that the troops could take over, then moved to make the jump back to base together.</p><p>“Good work, everyone.” said Feferi. “We’ll debrief once we get back to base.”</p><p>-----------------</p><p>After a short debriefing (there hadn’t really been much to discuss, other than ‘hey, we kicked ass’), Karkat showered, grabbed his datapad, and caught up with some of his squadron mates at one of the onbase cantinas, where Nepeta was regaling them with the story of her and Equius’s dramatic escape from Coruscant in a pair of stolen Z-95 Headhunters.</p><p>“And then we dodged behind one of the really nice-looking space yachts with a bunch of rich people on it, so the TIEs couldn’t risk shooting at us and accidentally hitting any VIPs.” she was saying. “By the time they managed to convince the yacht to break off so they could get a clean shot at us, we were close enough to the shield opening to make a run for it. We got into hyperspace, made a few extra jumps to throw the Imps off the trail, then holed up with my family on Cathar for a while until I managed to talk Equius into joining the Rebellion with me.”</p><p>“You weren’t initially up for going rebel?” Aradia asked Equius, with just the faintest edge to her tone.</p><p>The Tholothian man shrugged. “I was concerned about the danger and the odds of actual success, but Nepeta convinced me that the Empire would always be after us unless we helped to destroy it.” Equius smiled slightly. “I must admit, I strongly prefer flying X-Wings instead of TIE fighters.”</p><p>“Like any sensible person would.” said Karkat. “Seriously, how did you ever bring yourself to fly one of those deathtraps?”</p><p>“The discipline instilled by the Imperial Academy is considerable.” Equius said. That was probably an understatement if Karkat had ever heard one.</p><p>“I’m just surprised they let you join up, what with you not being human and all.” said Sollux Captor, Aradia’s Verpine wingman.</p><p>“They do that sometimes for species that are pretty closely related if they could use the personnel.” said Aradia. “Honestly, a lot of the time the definition of a human is more political than biological.”</p><p>“Indeed.” Kanaya agreed.</p><p>Speaking of politics, Karkat hadn’t caught up on the political news much lately. He pulled up a news site on his datapad to check on things. Most of it wasn’t particularly exciting; the New Republic was getting more and more of the proper yet boring functions of a government off the ground, and a few more minor star systems had joined up as well. The main subject of political debate was still the question of how far reprisals against former Imperial collaborators ought to go when the New Republic liberated their systems. Karkat read through some of the editorials on the subject, groaning.</p><p>“Is someone being stupid on the Holonet again?” Kanaya asked him wryly. She really did know him very well.</p><p>“Kriffing Orn Free Taa is out here talking about how we shouldn’t judge people too harshly for all the difficult choices they had to make during the era of the Empire.” Karkat snarled, voice dripping with disdain.</p><p>Kanaya looked a little puzzled. “That doesn’t seem like the worst thing one could say.”</p><p>“It is when it’s coming from that guy. Gosh, just think of all the <em>difficult choices</em> Senator Taa had to make from his luxury penthouse on Coruscant, surrounded by dancing girls, and eating meals that cost more than a lot of people make in a week. Surely he deserves all sorts of sympathy from the people who have been out making hard choices in their guerilla wars against the Empire, right? Especially his constituents who fought to free Ryloth without any help from him.” </p><p>“You’re really fired up about this, aren’t you, Nubs?” said Sollux.</p><p>Karkat’s eyelid twitched a little at the nickname. Okay, so a little genetic quirk meant that his horns were unusually rounded and stubby for a Zabrak. But still, you’d think people would notice something else about him at some point. Whatever, it wasn’t like he’d never heard it before.</p><p>“Yes, I am a bit fired up about jackass politicians who never do anything useful.” Karkat agreed. “Lieutenant Megido, Chixie, what do you think about Senator Taa?”</p><p>“Well, I don’t like selfish politicians any more than the next person,” said Aradia, “but I don’t really have any special opinion about him; I’m from Tatooine, not Ryloth.”</p><p>“And I’m from Nar Shaddaa.” added Chixie Roixmr, the amber-skinned Twi’lek woman whose callsign was Torrent Four. “But I’ve always wished Senator Taa would do more about slavery.”</p><p>“You’re from Tatooine?” asked Daraya Jonjet, the young Pantoran woman who flew as Torrent Two. “Does that mean-?”</p><p>“No, I never met Luke Skywalker.” said Aradia, in a tone that suggested she had heard that question a lot. “I grew up in Mos Espa, and he was apparently a farmboy.”</p><p>“Oh.” said Daraya. “Anyways, I’m with Karkat about the politicians. Our Senator managed to get a lot of helpful stuff done for the Rebellion behind the scenes, there’s no reason others couldn’t have done the same.”</p><p>“I know!” said Karkat. “There’s Mon Mothma, Senator Organa, plenty of others. Iridonia’s old senator died captaining a frigate at Scarif. People deserve leaders who actually help them.”</p><p>“Well, then I suppose it’s a good thing that we’re part of the New Republic, so we can help make sure they get them.” said Kanaya.</p><p>“Yeah!” Nepeta agreed, hoisting her drink enthusiastically and nearly splashing the Soleil twins as they came over to the table.</p><p>“Hey, be careful.” said Barzum.</p><p>“Yeah, people are walking here.” Baizli added in a more cheerful tone. Or was that Barzum, and the other one was Baizli? Karkat kept getting them mixed up. But it wasn’t like they were ever apart anyway, so it was probably fine.</p><p>The two Bothans picked their way around the crowded table, moving with the same eerie synchrony that helped them fly together so well as Torrents Eleven and Twelve. </p><p>“Hey, gang, here’s dinner.” Skylla Koriga, who flew as Torrent Three, stepped up to the table and set down a massive tray of food. Everyone in the squadron was here, except Commander Peixes, who was busy doing officer stuff.</p><p>“You got through the crowd around the counter pretty quick.” said Chixie.</p><p>Skylla grinned. “What can I say? People just seem to get out of my way.”</p><p>Considering that Skylla was tall even for a Barabel, that didn’t surprise Karkat. (Though she rather lacked the typical Barabel accent; apparently she had been a foundling on Agamar or something like that.)</p><p>Skylla noticed Karkat sitting at the table. “Oh, sorry, Karkat, I didn’t notice you come in. Should I grab you something?”</p><p>“No, it’s fine.” Karkat answered. “I’m not hungry. Besides, one carnivore to another, all the meat they serve at this place is awful stringy anyway.”</p><p>Skylla picked up what looked like some sort of fried bird leg and took an experimental bite. “So it is. Oh, well.” She dug in anyway.</p><p>As everyone who was actually hungry ate, the conversation shifted to speculation about their next target.</p><p>“Well, we’re supposed to be a bit of a raiding squadron.” Daraya suggested. “Maybe we’ll help harass an important Imp planet, like Ciutric or Tangrene.”</p><p>“I suspect those missions are off the table, on account of being a bit, ah?” Kanaya trailed off, looking for the right word.</p><p>“Suicidal?” said Aradia.</p><p>“Yes, that would be it.”</p><p>“We’re probably joining back up with the fleet to take Ord Cestus.” said Karkat.</p><p>“What makes you say that?” asked Chixie.</p><p>“Well, our fleet’s offensive in this sector is targeted at the Celanon and Serenno systems, and taking Ord Cestus sets us up to attack Celanon.” Karkat explained. “Plus, our raid today captured a bunch of weaponry that was meant to reinforce Ord Cestus against starfighters, so they’ll probably want to attack the system before it can pick up reinforcements from elsewhere to make up the gap.”</p><p>“That makes sense.” Sollux agreed. “Command probably wants the Imps cut off from the hyperlanes going through Celanon sooner rather than later.”</p><p>“As long as we’re liberating another planet from the Empire, it works for me.” said Skylla.</p><p>“I’m sure we’ll manage to win.” said Aradia. “After all, how hard could it be?”</p><p>“Those are famous last words.” observed Kanaya.</p><p>“Yeah, are you trying to get us killed?” Sollux snarked.</p><p>“Oh, we’ll be fine.” Aradia waved him off.</p><p>Karkat smiled. They would have an actual fleet at their backs, and going by today’s performance, Torrent Squadron was a pretty good bunch of people to have flying with you. They would definitely be fine.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Did you know Zabraks are apparently carnivorous? Thanks, Wookiepedia!</p><p>Also, while the timeline here is more inspired by the Legends version of the post-Endor Galactic Civil war, I'm not worried about matching too closely which systems are supposed to be under whose control at this point. You can chalk up the differences to trickle-down effects from me making up the Alternian Hegemony out of whole cloth and jamming them in the Outer Rim(more on them in later chapters). Anyway, see you next time, when an actual major Star Wars character shows up for a bit.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As she made her way towards the briefing room, Feferi looked around to see if she knew anybody. She hadn’t gotten to know most of the officers around base, since she had only just gotten reassigned here and everyone had been busy, but maybe there would be a familiar face or two. Wait, was that…?</p><p>“Terezi!”</p><p>The Trandoshan woman turned at the sound of her voice. “Feferi!”</p><p>Feferi caught up to her and was immediately swept into a bone-crushing hug.</p><p>“How have you been?” Feferi asked. “I haven’t seen you since Endor.”</p><p>“And I haven’t seen you since ever.” Terezi said. </p><p>Feferi rolled her eyes fondly at the quip. Terezi was a bit unusual among the New Republic’s pilots, on account of being blind. This wasn’t unheard of, mind you; there were plenty of species out there that didn’t have or need eyes, and various auditory and olfactory sensor and control schemes had been devised over the years to accommodate them. But Trandoshans did have eyes (rather good ones, actually), so it was a bit unexpected that not only was Terezi unhindered by her blindness, she was actually the best pilot that Feferi had ever flown with.</p><p>“I’ve been doing good.” Feferi said. “Torrent Squadron is coming together nicely.”</p><p>“Yeah, I heard about your trip to Axxila the other day.” said Terezi. “Did you get any kills?”</p><p>“Just one TIE. There were only eight, after all.” said Feferi. “What about you? I’d have thought Command would have broken up Krayt Squadron by now to make the nuclei of a few new fighter squadrons.”</p><p>“They’re getting to it.” Terezi answered. “But they decided to keep us together for this battle to make sure we’ve got enough fighters.”</p><p>“That makes sense. How do you feel about training up a new squadron?”</p><p>Terezi shrugged. “I mean, it would be nice not to have to train up a bunch of rookies, but it’s for the good of the fleet. Besides, Stelsa and Marvus are both ready for their own commands. I guess I’ll just have to get used to it.” She jabbed a finger at Feferi. “Unlike lucky old you, with your special elite unit and all.”</p><p>“Hey, if you want to join up, feel free to try and talk the admiral into it. I’ll even let you take command.” said Feferi.</p><p>“Hmm.” Terezi thought about it for a second. “Tempting, but we can’t have too much badass in one place. Have to save some for the rest of the navy, after all.”</p><p>“True.”</p><p>The two of them stepped into the briefing room and took a seat near the front. As most of them had expected, a hologram of the Ord Cestus system was displayed in the center of the room.</p><p>The last few officers filed in, and the side door opened to let in Admiral Canis, an old Shistavanen woman who had been in the service for longer than Feferi had been alive. Walking at her side was a blond-haired human man dressed in black with a very familiar face.</p><p>“That’s Luke Skywalker!” said Feferi, startled. Exciting whispering quickly filled the room.</p><p>“Good morning, officers.” said Admiral Canis as she stepped up to the podium. “You may have noticed that we have a guest. General Skywalker?”</p><p>“Please, Admiral.” he said. “Just call me Luke. I resigned my commission to focus on rebuilding the Jedi. But I was passing through the system and heard that you were about to go and liberate Ord Cestus, so I thought I’d lend an X-Wing.”</p><p>“And we’re rather glad to have you.” said Canis. “I haven’t fought with a Jedi since the Clone Wars; it’s nice to have you back. Moving on.” She continued. “This is the Ord Cestus system.”</p><p>The hologram expanded to show a slightly arid-looking planet with a decent-sized space station near it.</p><p>“The planet is habitable, and is home to the X’Ting species, as well as a number of offworld immigrants who were brought to the planet as part of various mining and manufacturing projects, which were expanded under the Empire. Using slave labor, of course, because why wouldn’t they?” Canis shook her head. “The system has a perfectly ordinary main sequence star and no dangerous or unusual astronomical features. As such, the only dangers awaiting us are the ones the Empire has set up.”</p><p>The hologram zoomed in on the space station and added a few ships.</p><p>“The Imperial fleet assigned to this planet is centered around a single <em>Imperial-II</em> class Star Destroyer, <em>Oppressor</em>- real on the nose, that name. The smaller escorts include two <em>Dreadnaught</em>-class heavy cruisers, an <em>Arquitens</em>-class light cruiser, and three <em>Carrack</em>-class light cruisers. These ships also carry nine squadrons of TIE fighters between them.”</p><p>Feferi nodded along. That was a pretty respectable fleet, though by no means overwhelming.</p><p>“But the most crucial part of the defense,” Canis continued, “is the space station.” </p><p>The hologram zoomed in on the enormous station, which was shaped kind of like a spoked wheel with gaps in the rim and an axle sticking out of the bottom.</p><p>“It’s a Clone Wars-era <em>Haven</em>-class medical station; heavily modified, of course. I swear, those things used to blow up if an enemy ship so much as gave them a dirty look. But this one has had a bunch of ludicrously overpowered shield generators added to each of those spokes, as well as a bunch of heavy turbolasers and some other defensive weapons. It was going to have a bunch more quad laser turrets and other anti-starfighter stuff, but Torrent Squadron took care of that. By the way, good job on that, Commander Peixes.”</p><p>“Thanks, ma’am.” Feferi said.</p><p>“Between the guns and the shielding, the station is too powerful for our capital ships to safely engage, which means we have to figure out a way to get rid of it if we want to land any troops on the planet proper. Fortunately, like many bits of Imperial military engineering, the station is vulnerable to starfighter attack, since its weapons are meant for use against capital ships.” The admiral looked up and shot a stern look at her squadron commanders. “Not that it won’t still kill you if you’re careless, mind you, but it’s no more dangerous than any other run against a capital ship you might make. Our plan is this.”</p><p>The hologram shifted again, putting a bunch of New Republic ships up on the display.</p><p>“Our fleet, consisting of two MC75 Star Cruisers, a <em>Munificent</em>-class frigate, two Nebulon-B frigates, a <em>Quasar Fire</em>-class carrier, a <em>Pelta</em>-class frigate, six CR90 Corellian corvettes, and seven starfighter squadrons, will jump into the system here.” Canis pointed out a spot on the hologram a little ways off from the planet.</p><p>“This spot will put us just outside the range of the station’s guns, but close enough to engage the enemy ships at extreme range, forcing them to come to us if they don’t want to be picked to pieces. Once they’re in engagement range, one of our Star Cruisers will keep the <em>Oppressor</em> busy, while the rest of the capital ships work with our starfighter squadrons to wear down the enemy fighters as much as possible. After the TIEs are sufficiently weakened, our fighters will break off to take down the station. We expect that the Imperial commander will recognize the station’s weakness against fighters and send any surviving TIEs to pursue, so our fleet doesn’t have to worry about losing its fighter cover.”</p><p>“If the station’s shielding is good enough to hold up to our capital ships, I’m not sure a few volleys of torpedoes will be enough to take it out.” Feferi pointed out.</p><p>“Fortunately, Commander Peixes, we’ve found a weakness in the station’s design.” Canis gestured at the hologram, zooming it in on the station. “Since it isn’t purpose-built as a defensive station, the shield coverage isn’t quite perfect, and the shield generators added to the spoke sections need to draw extra power from the central power generator in order to keep up their strength. Our tech people looked over the plans, and they determined that there’s a weak spot in the shields here.” A spot on top of the station’s central hub was highlighted in red. “It’s not a big spot, only about three meters wide, but if a pair of proton torpedoes gets in there it should damage the power conduits enough that a decent volley of torpedoes will be able to take out the station. All we need is a pilot who can fly in there past the enemy guns and hit it.”</p><p>There was a pause as everyone thought that over, and then every head in the room turned to look at Luke Skywalker. </p><p>Luke smiled. “Is this where I’m supposed to say something about shooting womp rats?”</p><p>“If you don’t want to be typecast,  I’m willing to take a run at it.” said Terezi.</p><p>“Thanks, Commander, but I think I can handle it.” said Luke. “It is a bit bigger than a womp rat, after all.”</p><p>“Once the station and the starfighters are cleared out,” Admiral Canis continued, “we’ll focus on clearing out what’s left of the capital ships, assuming they don’t just retreat. Any questions?”</p><p>“What’s the breakdown on those enemy TIEs?” Terezi asked. “Eyeballs, squints, dupes?”</p><p>Admiral Canis paused. “I confess that I’m not really up on pilot slang these days.”</p><p>“She’s asking what kinds of TIE fighters they have.” Luke explained. “Eyeballs are the standard ones, squints are Interceptors, and dupes are bombers.”</p><p>“Ah. Based on our reconnaissance, it appears that the enemy has three squadrons of bombers and one of Interceptors, and the rest are the standard TIE fighters.”</p><p>That was actually pretty heartening to hear. Only one of the enemy squadrons was made up of the more dangerous Interceptors, while the three bomber squadrons would be of very little use against other starfighters.</p><p>“Any other questions?” Canis asked. No one said anything. “Alright, then. We’ll get the materials sent out so you can brief your subordinates, and we’ll arrive at Ord Cestus at 1800 hours tomorrow. Dismissed.”</p><p>The meeting broke up, and most of the officers started milling about the room waiting for their chance to meet Luke Skywalker, who accepted the hero worship with what was in Feferi’s opinion very impressive grace and humility. Luke made his way around the room, greeting people amicably, until he made it over to Feferi and Terezi.</p><p>“Commander Pyrope,” he greeted Terezi. “How’s Krayt Squadron doing these days?”</p><p>“Pretty well.” said Terezi. “Though with the new squadron-building program we’ll probably be broken up soon.”</p><p>“That’s a shame.” said Luke. </p><p>“Yeah, but it’ll be a lot of help to the rookies, so I can’t complain too much.” Terezi shrugged.</p><p>“You two know each other?” asked Feferi.</p><p>“Krayt Squadron and Rogue Squadron flew a few missions together back in the day.” Terezi explained. “Though this is the first we’ve met since the whole Jedi thing happened.”</p><p>“It’s nice to meet you, Commander Peixes.” Luke said politely. “I’m looking forward to flying with you.”</p><p>“Same here!” Feferi agreed. “With all of us together, the Empire won’t stand a chance.”</p><p>“That’s the hope.” Luke smiled. He really was good at making people feel like friends, Feferi had noticed. Maybe it was a Jedi thing.</p><p>“I’ve got a few things I need to get done,” said Luke, “so I’ll see you at the battle. Take care.” He flipped them a casual salute, then turned and walked off. </p><p>(Had he looked kind of keenly at Terezi there for a second, or was Feferi imagining things?)</p><p>“He’s a nice guy.” said Terezi. “I always did like working with the Rogues.”</p><p>“Say, we’ve got a bit of time before we need to get back to our squadrons.” said Feferi. “What do you say we make like the old days and get on the simulators to see who can kill the most TIEs? Loser buys lunch.”</p><p>“Why, Feferi, how kind of you.” said Terezi, grinning. “Offering to buy me lunch like that.”</p><p>“Hey, I might win. I’ve won a couple times.”</p><p>“You’ve lost a lot more than a couple times.”</p><p>“Yeah, but…”</p><p>The two of them walked off down the hall to the simulators, bantering the whole way.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bit of a long chapter today. Can you tell that I like writing space battles?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As the carrier <em>Quiver</em> neared the end of its trip through hyperspace to the Ord Cestus system, Kanaya finished checking over her X-Wing and climbed into the cockpit. She didn’t really feel nervous about the upcoming battle, which might have surprised some people, but she was used to fighting by now, and had gone up against rather longer odds in the past than the ones she would be facing today.</p><p>As she strapped into her seat, Feferi’s voice came over the comlink. “Remember, we’re not launching right away, we’re waiting until the Imperials get close. Don’t go jetting out of the hangar first thing.”</p><p>There was the familiar jolt of deceleration as the ship exited hyperspace. Kanaya watched through the hangar doors as flashes of light went by from the firing of the fleet’s guns. The Imperial fleet approached as predicted, not wanting to get blown to pieces at range without being able to fight back. As they grew nearer and nearer, the call finally came down from the bridge.</p><p>“Fighters, you are clear to launch. May the Force be with you.”</p><p>Kanaya’s X-Wing flew out of the hangar with the others and made for the fray. She looked around at the capital ships. The Mon Cal cruiser <em>Serenity</em> and the Star Destroyer <em>Oppressor</em> were locked in combat, blasting away at each other with so many turbolasers and ion cannons that it was impossible to make out the individual shots in the mess. The rest of the Imperial ships were smaller, and were darting around trying to avoid being caught in heavy fire from <em>Tranquility</em>, the other Mon Cal cruiser, while also trying to hit the smaller New Republic ships.</p><p>And of course, boiling out from the <em>Oppressor</em> like a cloud of hornets, there were the TIE fighters. The bombers were being held back for the moment, but that still left five squadrons of the regular ones and an Interceptor squadron.</p><p>Torrent Squadron dove into the fray, the X-Wings of Krayt Squadron and three other squadrons of A-Wings right behind them, as well as the personal X-Wing of one Luke Skywalker, while two squadrons of Y-Wings hung back to be ready for bombing runs. Red and green lasers started filling up space as the two swarms of fighters took long-range shots at each other. Kanaya aimed for one of the Interceptors, but it was too nimble to hit at this range. A moment later, the two groups caught up to each other, and the battle descended into a chaotic mess.</p><p>Kanaya weaved through laser fire and looped back around to get an overview of things. She spotted an A-Wing that had carelessly flown straight through the mess and had a TIE on its tail, and angled her fighter in to take a shot at the pursuing craft. Her lasers burned holes through its solar panel wings, slowing the enemy fighter down and forcing it to turn away, at which point the much faster A-Wing was able to loop around and blow it to pieces.</p><p>“Pair of squints coming up behind us, Five.” warned Karkat from where he was flying on her wing.</p><p>“I see them. Let’s try the hourglass maneuver.”</p><p>Kanaya turned her fighter to the left. A second later, Karkat turned his to the right. The two Interceptors coming up on their tails split, each tracking one of them. They flew on for a moment, weaving to dodge the enemy’s shots, before Kanaya turned hard back to the left, and Karkat back to the right, which would hopefully put the TIE on Karkat’s tail right in front of her lasers.</p><p>Unfortunately, the enemy pilot was quick, and tipped his craft’s wing downwards out of Kanaya’s line of fire so she only managed a glancing hit. Kanaya kept flying, now trying to shake off the Interceptor on her tail. She jerked her ship around in all directions, turning and spiraling through space, but the enemy pilot stuck with her the whole way. A shot hammered off of her rear shields, nearly dropping them. This pilot was good.</p><p>That gave her an idea. She slowly eased back on the throttle, slowing her X-Wing. Cutting your speed while being chased by a faster ship and letting them overshoot you was one of the oldest tricks in the book: there was no way a pilot this good would fall for it. Sure enough, the TIE on her tail slowed down, matching her deceleration. </p><p>Kanaya slammed the throttle back to full speed and looped around; before the enemy fighter could get back up to speed to match her, she had it in her sights. Her lasers tore through the cockpit and into the engines, blowing the whole ship to atoms. Unfortunately, another TIE fighter nearby had seen the action and taken the opportunity to get on her tail as well. Kanaya sighed as she started flying evasively again. At least this time it was just a regular TIE.</p><p>“Torrent Six could use a hand here.” Karkat called over the comms, sounding rather stressed. </p><p>Kanaya looked around for him. There he was, below and to the right of her X-Wing a ways, an Interceptor still close on his tail.</p><p>“Six, break up and left.” she said. He did, and Kanaya dove so that their X-Wings were headed straight on a collision course, the enemy fighters still pursuing them. At the last second, right before they would have collided, they both snap-rolled their fighters up on one wing, narrowly dodging each other, and giving each of them a great shot at the TIE on the other’s tail. Kanaya’s shot blew the Interceptor to bits; there was an explosion behind her as Karkat picked off the TIE that had been following her.</p><p>“Thanks, Five.” he said.</p><p>“My pleasure. Let’s catch up with the rest of the flight, shall we?”</p><p>The two of them caught up with Nepeta and Equius, who were currently going head to head with a pair of TIEs. Nepeta blasted the wing off of one, sending it spiraling out of control. Its wingmate narrowly managed to avoid being rammed into, but its dodge put it right in front of Equius, who blew it to bits. Unfortunately, Nepeta wasn’t so lucky; the out of control wreckage slammed straight into her X-Wing, dropping the shields and leaving her fighter wobbling and spitting smoke.</p><p>“Seven, eject.” Kanaya ordered.</p><p>“No, it’s fine, I can hold it together!” said Nepeta. The back of her X-Wing burst into flames for a moment. “On second thought, there goes the stabilizer. Bailing!”</p><p>Nepeta’s ejector seat cleared her X-Wing safely, and the stricken craft spiraled onwards for a few seconds before exploding. Kanaya looked over to make sure she hadn’t been injured, then turned her X-Wing away to look for more targets.</p><p>“Sithspawn!” Karkat cursed, looping his fighter up and back around. “Eight, cover your wingmate! Five, we’ve got-”</p><p>“I see them.” A pair of TIE fighters, trying to take a shot at Nepeta while she was EV. Kanaya and Karkat had looped up and above the pair’s line of sight; focused on their target, the TIEs didn’t see them coming until it was too late. Karkat’s shot vaporized the first one, and Kanaya’s got the second, while Equius neatly interposed his fighter between Nepeta and the explosions to catch any debris on his shields.</p><p>“Torrent Five to all fighters.” Kanaya commed. “Watch out for your ejected pilots, the Imperials are taking shots at them.”</p><p>“They’ve been doing that more often lately.” Karkat groused. “I bet they’re being trained for it.”</p><p>“That sounds like the Empire.” Kanaya agreed. “Eight, stick with us. Let’s see if we can find any more of those Interceptors to get rid of.”</p><p>The three of them looped around, keeping an eye out for the more dangerous enemies so that the others wouldn’t have to deal with them. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be many Interceptors left. Kanaya saw one that had been trying to get on Sollux’s tail get picked off by Aradia, and another that had Feferi close on its tail. A third one was coming their way followed by Luke Skywalker. Kanaya moved to intercept it, but before it got any closer, one of Luke’s shots sheared off the top half of both wings, sending the craft into an uncontrolled end-over-end spin, until a second shot finished the job.</p><p>Luke suddenly turned his X-Wing towards <em>Ruiner</em>, one of the Imperial <em>Dreadnaught</em>-class cruisers nearby.</p><p>“Torrent Five,” he said with some urgency, “could you have your flight follow me?”</p><p>Technically, Luke wasn’t part of her chain of command, but all things considered Kanaya figured it was probably a good idea.</p><p>“We’re right behind you, Master Skywalker.” she answered, turning to follow, with Karkat and Equius close behind.</p><p><em>Ruiner</em> was currently locked in combat with a New Republic <em>Munificent</em>-class frigate and a pair of corvettes. Did Luke intend to make a bombing run or something?</p><p><em>Ruiner</em> rolled to put its hangar bay right next to the frigate, and disgorged the lone squadron of TIE Bombers it had been holding in reserve. So that was what Luke had been worried about; a surprise run by a bomber squadron would devastate the frigate.</p><p>Or at least it would have, if the bombers hadn’t been about to get a surprise of their own. Luke got the two lead bombers on his first pass, and the other three X-Wings got one apiece. The remaining bombers scattered in panic. Luke had somehow anticipated their evasive moves and positioned his X-Wing to have four of the TIEs lined up in front of him, and he got all four of them in short order. Kanaya easily got behind one of the remaining three and shot it down, and Karkat and Equius got the other two. The slow and fairly fragile TIE bombers were no match for other starfighters unless they had surprise or a huge numbers advantage on their side, and this bunch hadn’t had either.</p><p>The four X-Wings looped back around to rejoin the main battle.</p><p>“Thanks for the help.” said Luke.</p><p>“It was no trouble.” said Kanaya.</p><p>“Say, how did you know that they were going to launch those bombers?” Karkat asked.</p><p>“I had a feeling.” Luke answered. You could practically hear him smiling.</p><p>The battle was going pretty well for the New Republic, Kanaya observed as they flew. The Imperials had lost their <em>Arquitens</em>-class cruiser and one of the <em>Carrack</em>-classes, and <em>Ruiner</em> and <em>Oppressor</em> were both starting to look rather battered, while the New Republic fleet had only lost one of the corvettes so far. And of course, the enemy’s TIE fighters were getting rather depleted, too, which meant that any minute now…</p><p>“X-Wings, Y-Wings, you’re clear to make your attack run on the station.”</p><p>“Affirmative.” Feferi’s voice sounded over the comms. “Torrent Squadron, on me, we’ll lead the way.”</p><p>They formed up and arrowed towards the station. Said station’s guns started firing at them, but the guns were too heavy to properly track the small and fast fighters; all they could do was fire as many shots as possible and hope they got lucky. Still, even a lucky glance from guns that powerful was enough to obliterate any starfighter, shields and all. </p><p>As they got closer and the fire intensified, the formation started to break up, with the slower Y-Wings ducking behind stray asteroids and bits of space debris for cover. The fighters kept going, getting closer and closer. As the two X-Wing squadrons drew the station’s fire, the Y-Wings ducked behind a large asteroid.</p><p>“Get away from there!” Luke yelled suddenly over the comms.</p><p>“Y-Wings, break off!” Commander Pyrope ordered at the same moment.</p><p>The Y-Wings turned away from the asteroid, and just in time: it exploded a second later. Two Y-Wings were caught in it, and a third took a chunk of rock in one of its engines, forcing the pilot to eject. It would have been a lot worse if it hadn’t been for the warning.</p><p>“The Imperials must have rigged that asteroid as a trap.” said Feferi. “Krayt Lead, Master Skywalker, thanks for the heads-up. And stay sharp, everyone, there might be more.”</p><p>They were almost to the station now.</p><p>“Torrent Squadron, split up.” Feferi ordered. “One Flight, on me, we’ll cut across the left axis to draw their fire. The rest of you, do the same on the other side. Krayts, go right at them. Y-Wings, dive and come up from below. That should draw away enough fire for Master Skywalker to make his run at the weak spot.”</p><p>Kanaya started to turn her X-Wing, when another voice sounded in her ear; an Imperial officer, on an open channel.</p><p>“Bomber One to <em>Oppressor</em>, confirming our orders for punitive runs on Ord Cestus’s civilian population centers.”</p><p>“<em>Oppressor</em> to Bomber One, your orders are confirmed. Leave nothing behind for the Rebels.”</p><p>Kanaya turned to look at the Imperial fleet. They had lost <em>Ruiner</em> and another one of the <em>Carrack</em>-classes, and were retreating towards the planet to try and take cover behind the station, now that there were fewer of them and they might conceivably fit. Meanwhile, the two remaining bomber squadrons that had been held in reserve and the survivors of the previous dogfight were making for Ord Cestus at full speed.</p><p>“Why would they say what they were doing on an open channel like that?” asked Chixie.</p><p>“They’re trying to draw us away from the station so that the capital ships can set up to help defend it.” Karkat answered.</p><p>“And unfortunately, they’re succeeding.” said Feferi. “We can’t let them get at those civilians. Torrent Lead to <em>Serenity</em>, permission to go after those bombers.”</p><p>“Granted, and make it fast.” Admiral Canis answered.</p><p>“You heard her, let’s move!” Feferi ordered. The fighters turned away to chase after the TIEs, except for Luke’s X-Wing.</p><p>“You guys handle the bombers, I’ll make my run anyway.” he said, still flying towards the station.</p><p>“But without us to draw some of their fire, every gun on the station <em>and</em> the approaching capital ships will be firing at you!” Feferi protested.</p><p>“I’ll be fine. Besides, if the shields are still at full strength when the capital ships get into position, you’ll take too many casualties on your run.” Luke’s X-Wing soared onwards. “Just worry about keeping the civilians safe.”</p><p>“If you say so.” said Feferi.</p><p>Their fighters caught up to the TIEs just as they started to enter the atmosphere. The already slow bombers were even further constrained as their solar panel wings made it difficult to maneuver when they had actual air resistance to deal with. Kanaya dove in on the nearest one and obliterated it with a shot to the bomb bay. One of the few actual TIE fighters remaining tried to get behind her as she set up to go after a second bomber; she ignored it. Karkat cut his speed and let Kanaya get ahead of him, and as the TIE fighter followed her, he got a clean shot at it, blowing off both wings and sending the ball cockpit tumbling helplessly through the atmosphere. Kanaya killed a second bomber, and many of her comrades were following suit. </p><p>The bombers were no match for them, and were dealt with in short order. But had they distracted the New Republic fighters long enough for the capital ships to be ready to defend the space station from them? Kanaya glanced over at the fight. The Imperial ships were nearly in position, and the New Republic fleet was hanging back, wary of the station’s powerful guns. If they were going to make a run at that station without taking heavy casualties from the guns on the capital ships, the shields needed to be weakened very soon.</p><p>Fortunately, Luke Skywalker was on the case. Kanaya was glad that all of the TIE fighters had been taken care of, because a lot of her fellow pilots would have been easy pickings while they were distracted with awe.</p><p>There must have been nearly two hundred guns doing nothing but trying to hit Luke, and none of them were succeeding; seemingly every last shot streaked through the void and exploded in the empty space where Luke’s X-Wing had been a second ago. It was like watching somebody dodge a rainstorm.</p><p>Luke’s X-Wing swooped through the impossible volume of fire, hugged close to the station for a bit as he flew up its side, then rolled up and over the top, spiraling above the station with its nose down in a maneuver that reminded Kanaya of a twirling ballerina. Somehow, while his fighter was still spinning, Luke got off a perfect shot with his proton torpedoes, nailing the weak spot in the station’s shields. As secondary explosions rippled around the point of impact, Luke flew away, still weaving through turbolaser fire as casually as a man moving through the crowd at a party.</p><p>Karkat spoke for everyone. “Holy fuck.”</p><p>“Watch the chatter, Torrent Six.” said Feferi, mirth lacing her voice. “Sensors confirm the station’s shields are weakened, so let’s make our run. Remember to aim for the central hub.”</p><p>They flew in. There was still some incoming fire, but the Imperial ships weren’t in the proper position to defend the station and had more than one target to aim at this time, so it was perfectly survivable. Kanaya got a lock on the central hub and fired a pair of torpedoes, then turned away. The rest of them did the same, and as they got out of range of the enemy guns, she turned to look at the results.</p><p>The cloud of torpedoes soared in, straight and true. The first few impacted against the remaining shields, but the rest soon broke through, slamming into the hub and exploding. Within moments, the station started breaking up, the pieces falling towards Ord Cestus in flames as they burned up in the atmosphere. </p><p>Free of the threat that the station’s guns had posed, the rest of the New Republic fleet moved in, and the remaining Imperial ships turned to flee. <em>Oppressor</em> and the surviving <em>Dreadnaught</em>-class made it into hyperspace, but the last <em>Carrack</em>-class caught a barrage from the Mon Cal cruisers and exploded. The battle was over.</p><p>“Admiral Canis to all ships.” the communication came. “There are no active Imperial units remaining in the system, and I’ve just accepted the planetary governor’s surrender. Ord Cestus is a free world once again. Good work, everyone.”</p><p>Kanaya looked around the system. New Republic losses had been light: a few starfighters, one corvette destroyed and another disabled, and some considerable damage to <em>Serenity</em> and one of the Nebulon-B frigates.</p><p>“I think that this has been a good day.” said Feferi. “Let’s get back to the carrier.”</p><p>As she turned her X-Wing around, Kanaya reflected on the feel of victory. She had spent a long time fighting the Empire against seemingly impossible odds, but recently things had been very different. She could get used to victory.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yes, 'Sithspawn' is a real curse that they actually used in the old EU. I actually kind of like it; you can get some good inflection on it, and it makes sense, since the Sith have been around for awhile and spawn lots of unpleasant things.</p><p>Next chapter should be up shortly, I hope. The villains are going to be in it. See you next time!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Commodore Ardata Carmia of the Imperial Navy stood at attention as she waited for her transmission to be answered, and passed the time by glancing over at Captain Erdehn, who was fidgeting rather nervously beside her. She was right to be nervous; if this went badly, Ardata was going to quite shamelessly throw her under the metaphorical speeder bus.</p><p>The holoprojector hummed to life, and a hologram appeared. Moff Zebruh Codakk, governor of Serenno and the overall military commander for the sector, glared down at them.</p><p>“This had better be important.” he said. “And make it quick, I’m busy.”</p><p>Captain Erdehn took a breath and swallowed nervously. “Sir, I regret to report the loss of the Ord Cestus system, along with its orbital defense station, five cruisers, and over one hundred TIE fighters.”</p><p>“Oh.” Codakk blinked. “That is important, I suppose. Did you at least make them pay for it?”</p><p>Erdehn winced. “I’m afraid Rebel losses were minimal, sir. We were outnumbered, and their fighter pilots were too skilled.”</p><p>“Intelligence suggests Luke Skywalker participated in the battle.” Ardata added.</p><p>“Really?” Erdehn perked up. “That explains what happened to the defense station.”</p><p>Codakk waved a hand dismissively. “If the Death Star couldn’t hold up to him, I suppose that we can’t expect a measly defense station to do it. Erdehn, you’re dismissed. Carmia, stick around for a moment, I need to talk strategy with you.”</p><p>Erdehn, relieved, quickly turned around and left the room.</p><p>“Was the battle competently commanded?” Codakk asked once she was gone.</p><p>Ardata shrugged. “Reasonably so. She used the tactics we had set up, but apparently with Skywalker there the Rebel fighters were just too good.”</p><p>“Damn.” Codakk shook his head. “Where does this leave the overall military situation?”</p><p>“It could be worse.” said Ardata, fighting the urge to sigh. Codakk should have known what the situation was already, but his status as military commander was entirely due to politics; he had no actual expertise. At least he wasn’t too bothered by the lost battle. “The <em>Oppressor</em> was the most important military asset at Ord Cestus, and it made it out. The main issue is that the loss of the system gives the Rebels a base to stage an attack on Celanon.” </p><p>Codakk nodded. “And Celanon is an important trade system.”</p><p>“Among other things, yes.”</p><p>Codakk seemed to ponder something for a moment. “Commodore, I’m going to level with you. I’m working on an important project right now, something, uh, for the good of the Empire.”</p><p>“As you say, sir.” said Ardata, fighting to avoid showing her skepticism.</p><p>“As such,” Codakk continued, “it is imperative that we hold the Serenno system as long as possible. How long can you give me?”</p><p>“Well, they would have to take Celanon first, and considering the balance of forces…” Ardata thought it over for a moment. “Barring any disasters or major Rebel reinforcements, about a month, I think. Maybe longer, if the Rebels decide to prioritize different targets or I get some reinforcements.”</p><p>“A month, huh?” Codakk stroked his chin. “I guess that will do. Would it be better to just withdraw the fleet to Serenno?”</p><p>“I wouldn’t recommend that, sir. There’s no way for them to attack Serenno without taking Celanon first, and Celanon has better defenses in place. Also, if we do lose Celanon, we can fall back to Serenno and set up a second line of defense, which would buy more time.”</p><p>And also Celanon is an important hyperspace crossroads and it would be ridiculous to give it up without a fight just to safeguard whatever ridiculous project you're working on, Ardata added in her head.</p><p>“I see.” Codakk nodded. “Hold on as long as possible, then. I’ll see if I can get you any reinforcements. Report to me if anything important happens.”</p><p>The hologram winked out, and Ardata sighed. She hated Codakk, who perfectly embodied the stereotype of the decadent useless Moff who couldn’t figure out anything except corruption and political maneuvering. At least now she had an excuse to defend the Celanon system as well as possible while also talking to Codakk as little as possible.</p><p>Ardata stormed out of the room to go and supervise repairs on the <em>Oppressor</em>. The Rebels were coming, and Imperial High Command would be even more merciless than them if she failed, but she would be ready.</p><p>------------------</p><p>Zebruh sighed as he turned away from his personal holoprojector. Honestly, would it kill the fleet to not lose a battle for a week or two? It kept messing up his plans. At least Carmia seemed to be pretty confident about giving him a month, which ought to be long enough. Maybe he would send her one of Serenno’s Star Destroyers.</p><p>“My apologies, ladies and gentlemen.” Zebruh said as he walked back into the adjoining conference room and sat down. “Just a minor military matter.”</p><p>“The loss of Ord Cestus is minor?” The finely-dressed Quarren man sitting across the table from him raised an eyebrow, facial tentacles squirming distastefully as he spoke. Zebruh carefully hid his revulsion.</p><p>“While it may be of some concern for the Empire as a whole, my subordinates reassure me that the system’s loss will have no effect on the sales here, Count Ampora, and my own judgement concurs with theirs.”</p><p>Eridan Ampora, the Alternian Hegemony’s representative at this conference, shrugged, face tentacles twitching again. “I suppose that sounds about right. Carry on then.”</p><p>“Of course.” Zebruh looked around at the representatives of the various warlords, gangsters, and minor galactic powers ringing the room. “As I was saying before we were interrupted, this auction will include all manner of weapons and materiel, both Imperial and Separatist, without regard for any ridiculous weapons bans or treaties. Many rare, obscure, and powerful items will be sold, and we even have a few non-military art items and collectables, if anyone happens to lean that way. Droidekas, Magnaguards, Defoliator tanks, disruptor rifles, experimental kyber weapons, biological weapons, you name it. The full list is in the datapads I’m sending around now.”</p><p>A few servants went around the room handing them out.</p><p>“My forces will secure the stockpiles until the auction roughly one month from now, exact timing to be decided.” Zebruh continued. “That should give you all plenty of time to gather up the necessary funds. I’m afraid you’re on your own for transportation, although we do also sell cargo ships at very reasonable prices. Any questions?”</p><p>The various representatives around the table, already engrossed in the list of items for sale, didn’t speak.</p><p>“Very well, then, I’ll let you all go. The servants will show you to your quarters, which you should find to be quite luxurious. Feel free to grab anyone in a uniform for assistance if you have any problems. Have a good evening.”</p><p>The representatives filed out of the room, and Zebruh smiled. There had been a lot of excited expressions among them, which boded well for the auction.</p><p>As the Moff of the Serenno system, which had been the Separatist capital during the Clone Wars and was the former lair of a Sith Lord, Zebruh had been in an excellent position to collect all sorts of rare and valuable secret military weapons and contraband. He had originally intended to use his stockpile gradually in order to get rich under the table and curry favor with the Emperor, but the aftermath of Endor had forced him to change his plans. Now, he was going to sell his entire stockpile in one big auction, and get enough money to buy an obscure planet in the Outer Rim and watch the Empire burn while living like a god.</p><p>Of course, a lot of people, especially the Rebels, wouldn’t be happy about the massive cache of weapons being released into the hands of various unsavory groups to run free over the galaxy and cause untold amounts of chaos and destruction, but it wasn’t like they could possibly stop him, and the chaos would only be a problem for people who weren’t going to be living like a god in the Outer Rim.</p><p>Yes, it was good to be Zebruh Codakk, and after this auction was done, it was going to keep being good for a long, long time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It might help with visualizing this chapter if you take a second to hop over to Wookiepedia and look up what a YT-1930 freighter looks like.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aradia smiled as she swung her X-Wing around past the wreckage of an Imperial <em>Arquitens</em>-class cruiser. Intel had planted false signs of smuggler activity in some no-name system nearby, and the Empire had fallen for it, sending one of their ships into a perfect ambush, where Torrent Squadron had blown it to bits. Now they were hanging around the system, waiting to see if the Imperials sent any reinforcements, in case they wound up also being weak enough for Torrent Squadron to destroy. </p><p>They had been waiting long enough that there probably wouldn’t be any, but Aradia was still in a good mood. After all, they had blown up a cruiser, and they hadn’t even really been in any actual danger. Once again, they had been given a perfect setup for an ambush; usually Military Intelligence wound up being a very ironic name, but whoever was in charge of it for this sector was doing a fantastic job. Aradia could get used to it.</p><p>Feferi’s voice came over the comms. “It doesn’t look like the Imperials are sending anyone else. We’ll wait another minute just in case, and then head for home.”</p><p>About thirty seconds later, another transmission came over the line.</p><p>“Emergency transmission from New Republic freighter Dissension, repeat, emergency transmission! We’re in the outskirts of the Thesme system, our hyperdrive is disabled, and we’re under attack by Imperial fighters! We could really use someone to help keep them off of us while we fix the hyperdrive, over!”</p><p>Thesme, that was pretty close, right? And they had enough fuel for another fight, too.</p><p>“Ten, can we get there in time?” Feferi asked Sollux, who was the squadron’s astronavigation expert, and was in the habit of memorizing any potentially relevant hyperspace routes connecting to the squadron’s mission locations.</p><p>“Two minutes, seventeen seconds.” Sollux answered. “I’m transmitting the course to the rest of you now.”</p><p>“Got it.” said Feferi. “Get ready to jump, people.” She switched over to the other channel. “Dissension, this is Torrent Lead. We’re on our way, ETA two and a half minutes.”</p><p>Aradia’s astromech beeped at her to let her know that they had gotten the hyperspace course from Sollux.</p><p>“Everyone got it?” Feferi asked. Everyone had. “Alright, let’s go, and be ready to fight the second we come out of hyperspace.”</p><p>Aradia activated her hyperdrive, and as the stars elongated outside her cockpit, she smiled. Two fights in one day? Bring it on.</p><p>---------------------</p><p>As the Dissension narrowly avoided another laser blast while it swung around to run into an asteroid field, Jade Harley decided that she had seen better days.</p><p>The mission had started off well enough. The mark had been exactly where Rose had said he would be, and Dave had stolen the datapad with the information sent from Serenno, just as planned. The theft had been noticed, sure, but the Imperials had no way of knowing who had done it or what ship they had been on, so despite the swarms of TIE fighters that had been flying around everywhere, the Dissension had been set to get away scot free.</p><p>And then the order had come straight from Moff Codakk himself to kill every non-Imperial ship in the system to make sure that there was no possibility of the thief escaping. There had been nearly two hundred such vessels around Thesme when the order went out, with crews ranging from single-seat pleasure flyers to passenger liners with hundreds of people on board. The Dissension had been the only survivor, and even that was only because Dave, sitting in the topside laser turret, had seen it coming a second early in that way of his, shouted a warning, and blew up the TIE angling to shoot out their cockpit.</p><p>Unfortunately, while shooting down that TIE had saved the ship in the short term, it also meant that Dave had missed his chance to stop them from disabling the hyperdrive or blowing out the laser turret, the latter of which was why Dave was currently bundled up unconscious in the copilot’s seat with some hastily-applied bacta patches and an environment suit in case the hull was breached. It was all they had time to do for him.</p><p>Jade gritted her teeth as she weaved through more asteroids, green lasers flashing past her cockpit. She was not going to force Rose to hear from some poor naval ensign that her brother and her two best friends were all dead. No way. She had shields and top-rate engines, John was fixing the hyperdrive, and help was on the way. They were going to make it home if it killed them.</p><p>“How’s that hyperdrive coming along?” she yelled back into the ship.</p><p>“It’s still gonna be a minute!” John yelled back. “They really did a number on it. Good thing you keep so many spare parts lying around.”</p><p>A pair of TIE fighters came roaring in from the left, lasers spewing, and Jade rolled her ship to starboard and up over an asteroid just in time to avoid them. There was a crash and a clatter from the back of the ship as the sudden maneuver made John fall over.</p><p>“I know that you probably can’t help it,” he said, “but it would help with the hyper drive if you did that less.”</p><p>“Sorry, not a lot of options up here.”</p><p>Jade kept flying through the asteroids, dodging and weaving. It was times like this she had picked a different ship to fly; as a YT-1930, the Dissension was good for going undercover as a civilian ship, but its only weapons were a single laser turret and a hidden concussion missile launcher Jade had added at the front, which was decidedly not enough for messes like this.</p><p>More lasers flashed by; a few hit the rear shields and rattled the whole ship. Jade cursed and went into a steep dive; as the TIEs on her tail followed, she made as if she was going to pull up. The enemy fighters pulled up themselves in anticipation, and Jade slammed the Dissension hard back into the dive. That little feint bought her a few seconds, at least.</p><p>She kept flying as the enemy fighters recovered and got on her tail again, still dodging through asteroids. As a flight of TIEs angled in towards her from above, Jade skimmed close to a mid-sized asteroid and turned on her repulsorlifts for a second, bouncing away from the asteroid and dodging a flurry of laser fire; the asteroid that had been bounced away knocked around other ones like a billiard ball, and the resulting mess of flying rocks claimed three TIEs before things settled down.</p><p>The proximity alert blared in Jade’s ear as a dozen X-Wings popped into realspace and started blasting away at the enemy. Had it been two and a half minutes already? Time really flew when you were flying for your life.</p><p>The X-Wings started tearing through the TIEs like a boil of hawks coming across a flock of surprised sparrows, but there were a lot of fighters to tear through; whatever was in the datapad they had stolen, Moff Codakk was apparently very invested in making sure they didn’t get away with it.</p><p>“Dissension, you seem to have picked up a rather dedicated bunch of followers.” Torrent Lead called. “Any idea when you’re going to get that hyperdrive fixed?”</p><p>“John?” Jade yelled back.</p><p>“Give me, like, a minute and a half to get the spare motivator wired in.” John answered.</p><p>“Ninety seconds, Torrent Lead.” Jade reported back.</p><p>“We can do ninety seconds.” Torrent Lead said, her voice filled with confidence despite the absurd number of TIE fighters approaching- had Codakk scrambled the planet’s entire complement? “Just keep flying and let us know when you’re ready to go.”</p><p>They flew on, Torrent Squadron’s X-Wings forming a protective shell around the Dissension. Whenever any pursuing TIEs got close, a wing pair broke off and went after them, forcing them to turn away or get caught up in a melee. Before long, things had degenerated into a chaotic mess, but none of the enemy fighters could get past. </p><p>Jade maneuvered a little ways away from the scrum and settled down behind an asteroid to let John finish fixing the hyperdrive in peace. Just a little while longer and then they were home free.</p><p>The Dissension’s sensors shrieked a warning as four Interceptors that must have been running a patrol on the other side of the system earlier came soaring in on an attack vector.</p><p>“Oh, come on!” yelled Jade, slamming a fist on her armrest as she brought the engines back up and made for where the rest of the fighters were having it out. </p><p>“We’ve got some extra company here!” she commed as the Interceptors closed in on her, two right on her tail and one each from above and below. </p><p>Jade threw the Dissension around in the best evasive maneuvers she knew, but it was a big target, the Interceptors were faster, and their pilots were good. Lasers slammed into her shields from three directions and dropped them; one more good hit and she was done for. A spiralling dive bought her a few seconds, but the TIE coming up from below stayed close on her and was nearly lined up for a killing shot.</p><p>Torrent Nine streaked out of the mess of fighters towards the Dissension, coming at it head-on. Just before they would have collided, the X-Wing dipped to fly under Jade’s ship, flying close enough to the hull that its exhaust crisped Jade’s paint a little. Just as the Interceptor coming up from below fired what would have been a final blow, Nine’s X-Wing flew in front of it and caught the shot on its shields, before vaporizing the surprised enemy with a shot of its own.</p><p>The other three TIEs got lined up for their own killing shots, but Nine, shielded from view by the Dissension’s bulk, looped up over the stern, blew both of the fighters on Jade’s tail to pieces with a perfectly placed proton torpedo right between them, and kept looping up to use itself as a shield again to stop the shot from the TIE coming from above.</p><p>Of course, the X-Wing’s shields couldn’t take two direct hits in a row. Nine had managed to avoid taking a hit to the main body of the fighter, but the shot still blew off both the left S-foils and left the X-Wing badly slowed and maneuvering awkwardly as it turned away with the Interceptor on its tail. </p><p>Nine wouldn’t last long before the TIE scored a kill, but without any fighters left to harass her, Jade could move to help. She turned the Dissension to point the bow-mounted concussion missile launcher towards the path of the two fighters, carefully led the TIE as she aimed, and fired. The missile streaked in and caught the Interceptor squarely in the right wing, and the force of impact sent the crumpled solar panel crashing through the cockpit like a rock through a melon.</p><p>“Thanks, Dissension.” said Torrent Nine, relief evident in her voice.</p><p>“I think I should be thanking you, Nine.” said Jade.</p><p>Intentionally flying your X-Wing into enemy fire aimed at a vulnerable freighter twice in a row to block it? That was about the bravest stunt Jade had ever seen any pilot pull, and she had been flying for quite a while now. Not to mention the perfect maneuvering and killing the first three TIEs. She owed that pilot bigtime.</p><p>There was a final resounding clang from the back room.</p><p>“Hyper drive’s fixed!” called John. “I think.”</p><p>“Dissension to Torrent Lead, we’re good to go.” said Jade, letting out a breath.</p><p>“Great! Torrent Squadron, let Dissension go first to make sure it actually makes it out, then run for home.”</p><p>Jade hit the hyperdrive controls and relaxed into the pilot’s seat for a moment as the stars elongated and the ship shot into the familiar light of hyperspace. Then she got up and went to take another look at Dave now that she finally had time to do proper first aid.</p><p>It hadn’t been fun, but they had been on worse missions. And most importantly, the datapad that was apparently full of secret information Moff Codakk <em>really</em> didn’t want getting out was going to go into the proper hands. Whatever was in there, Rose would be sure to make use of it to help bring the guy down, and Jade was looking forward to it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rose sighed heavily as she looked over from her seat to where Dave was floating in a bacta tank. His injuries hadn’t been as bad as they had feared at first; he had regained consciousness shortly before arriving back at base, and the medics had declared that there was nothing wrong with him that an overnight dip in bacta wouldn’t fix, and so here they were.</p><p>Still, it had been close. If the shot had been more on target, if the hull breach had been a little bigger, if the X-Wing squadron that came running to help had been just a bit slower…</p><p>“I really messed this one up, huh?” she asked. Rhetorically, of course; Dave couldn’t really answer while he was in the tank.</p><p>“I found a way to get valuable intelligence that one of the most morally bankrupt Moffs in the whole Empire really wanted to be kept secret, and sent you off to pick it up without a thought or a warning as to how he might react. And I didn’t even have the decency to tag along with you when I sent you off into danger.” </p><p>She had been very busy with paperwork, after all. The excuse rang hollow in her mind.</p><p>“I really am sorry.” </p><p>Dave seemed to have woken up to hear that, at least. Wait, had he just rolled his eyes at her? It was hard to tell.</p><p>There was a hiss of pneumatics as the door to the medbay slid open and Jade and John walked in.</p><p>“Hey, Rose.” John said cheerfully.</p><p>“Hello.” Rose answered. “I’m sorry about how badly your mission went.”</p><p>Jade glanced intently at her for a moment. “Have you been moping about how everything is your fault while there was no one here who could tell you otherwise?”</p><p>There was a swish of liquid in the bacta tank as Dave nodded vigorously.</p><p>Jade shook her head fondly. “Rose, you don’t have to apologize for sending us into danger, we all signed up for it.”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s not your fault that Moff Codakk is a crazy murderer who torches whole systems worth of ships over stolen intel.” John agreed.</p><p>“It’s nice of you to say that.” said Rose.</p><p>“It’s also true!” Jade insisted. “Just because you couldn’t predict how badly he would overreact doesn’t mean that it’s your fault. Besides, things worked out fine.”</p><p>“I suppose.” said Rose. “In any case, I’m very glad to see that you’re all okay. How’s the Dissension?”</p><p>“I’ll have her at a hundred percent by tomorrow night.” Jade reassured her. “She’s a tough old girl.”</p><p>“Good, we might need it soon.”</p><p>The door hissed open again as an orderly stepped in and saluted. </p><p>“Colonel Lalonde, we’ve finished decoding the datapad your team recovered.” they said, handing it over and heading off to run some other errand.</p><p>Rose opened it and looked it over.</p><p>“Well, fuck.” she said quietly.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Jade asked.</p><p>“Moff Codakk is going to be holding an auction of military materiel on Serenno soon.” Rose answered.</p><p>“That doesn’t sound so bad.” said John.</p><p>“Here’s the list of items on offer.” Rose held up the datapad so they could see, making sure that Dave had a view from inside the bacta tank.</p><p>“Oh, that’s not good.” said Jade, scrolling through it. “This stuff could cause a lot of trouble in the wrong hands.”</p><p>“To put it mildly.” Rose agreed. “The defoliators and kyber crystal items are particularly concerning, and I have a bad feeling about some of these Sith-related items too.”</p><p>“I guess the fleet is going to have to get a move on and take Serenno before the auction happens.” said John.</p><p>Rose thought for a second about the relative balance of Imperial and New Republic forces in the area and the potential reinforcements available.</p><p>“That’s… probably not happening.” she said. “We’ll have to infiltrate. Fortunately, I have a plan in place for this eventuality.”</p><p>“Oh, good.” Jade smiled at her. “I kinda figured you would.”</p><p>“What is it?” John asked.</p><p>“I have a contact who can get us and some heavy equipment into Serenno. I just have to get a hold of her.” Rose grimaced a little at the thought. She was not looking forward to working with this particular bounty hunter. But it was necessary, so she would have to deal with it.</p><p>“I have some arrangements to make, and hopefully we’ll be able to leave in a few days. In the meantime, I suggest you guys get some rest.”</p><p>“No problem.” John said, before walking up and tapping on Dave’s tank. “How are you doing, man?” he asked, raising his voice rather more than was necessary.</p><p>Dave gave a thumbs up.</p><p>“Awesome.” John flashed double thumbs up back.</p><p>“Need anything?” Jade asked.</p><p>Dave shook his head.</p><p>“Alright. Thanks for saving us, by the way.”</p><p>Dave gave a little handwave that somehow perfectly conveyed the sentence “No big deal, just helping my friends, no problem.”</p><p>Jade smiled at him. “Yeah, well you’re getting thanked anyway. Anyways, I’ve gotta go catch up with some things. Rose, just call if you need anything.”</p><p>“I doubt I will, but thank you.” Rose sighed and stretched a crick out of her neck. “I have some planning to do, so I’ll be keeping Dave company while I work. Have fun, you two.”</p><p>“Yes, ma’am.” said John cheerfully, as he and Jade turned to leave.</p><p>“Oh, and one last thing.” Rose said; the two stopped to look back at her. “I promise, this next mission will go a lot smoother.”</p><p>Jade smiled wryly. “No plan survives contact with the enemy, remember? But the fact that you’re trying means a lot. Thanks.”</p><p>Still smiling, Jade and John headed out, and Rose turned back to her work. Maybe she couldn’t control everything, but she could certainly do her best. Her friends deserved nothing less.</p><p>------------------</p><p>Fresh out of a cold shower and feeling rather cheerful, Jade made her way over to one of the cantinas that pilots usually frequented. This was about the time of day when they got done with the rest of their work and swung by to relax, and Jade was hoping to catch up with the squadron that had bailed her out. She looked around; Torrent Squadron apparently had a unit patch with a wave on it, she was told. Oh, there were some pilots with a wave patch over there. She walked over and waved.</p><p>“Are you guys from Torrent Squadron?” Jade asked.</p><p>“Yeah, why?” asked a short Zabrak guy with stubby horns.</p><p>“Wait, your voice sounds kind of familiar.” a young Cathar woman mused.</p><p>Jade grinned and half-saluted. “Jade Harley, New Republic Intelligence operative and captain of the Dissension, at your service.”</p><p>“Ah.” said a tall Mirialan woman. “That would be why you sound familiar.”</p><p>“Yep.” said Jade. “Anyway, as is tradition when one gets one’s ass saved, drinks are on me tonight.”</p><p>A few of the pilots cheered at that as they all filed into the cantina, while Jade waved at the bartender, who just nodded back at her; Jade bought stuff for people a lot, so she had a tab.</p><p>As everyone gathered around, Jade looked over the group.</p><p>“Now, which one of you is Torrent Nine?” she asked.</p><p>“That would be me.”</p><p>Jade turned around to look and whoa pretty girl. Like, the prettiest Twi’lek girl she had ever seen, with the liveliest eyes and a beautiful smile and- don’t just stare, Jade, play it smooth.</p><p>“Hey.” she managed. Great job, Jade.</p><p>The girl just chuckled a little, happily. “Hey yourself. I’m Aradia.”</p><p>Jade reached out to shake her hand. “I especially need to thank you for the save. That stunt you pulled was about the bravest thing I’ve ever seen a pilot do.”</p><p>“Thanks.” Aradia grinned as she looked Jade up and down a little. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pull it off. Good thing you picked off that last fighter for me or I would have been in serious trouble.”</p><p>“Hey, it was the least I could do.”</p><p>“I’m still grateful. Anyway, let me introduce you to the rest of the squadron.”</p><p>A couple hours later, Jade had been properly introduced to everyone, and she was glad she had made the effort, because they were a fun bunch. Karkat was shouty and opinionated, and nice to talk to once you got used to him, Kanaya was cool, Sollux was also cool and pretty witty to boot, everyone was pretty neat. Especially Aradia, who was lively and apparently a bottomless well of cheeriness about anything, no matter how dire, and had a smile that always looked genuine and just a touch dangerous and… look, she was really pretty. Enough to give Jade some <em>ideas</em>.</p><p>They had spent a lot of time trading dogfighting stories (naturally, since they were all pilots), then gossip about the rest of the fleet’s officers, and had finally come around to discussing the course of the war.</p><p>“Celanon is gonna be a bitch to take.” Karkat was grousing. “Their fleet has parity with ours, and they have a line to the TIE fighter factories on Serenno, so we can’t even wear down their fighter force by attrition to open up strikes at the Star Destroyers.”</p><p>“We can wear down their supply of experienced pilots, though.” Skylla pointed out.</p><p>“Since when has the TIE fighter force relied on experienced pilots?” asked Sollux.</p><p>“Darn.” Skylla made a face. “You’re right.”</p><p>“On the bright side,” Kanaya pointed out, “the strength of the forces deployed at Celanon suggests that the rest of the sector is in rather poor shape.”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, it’s gonna fall like a house of cards once Celanon is gone.” Karkat agreed. “But we had better be ready for some nasty naval battles first.”</p><p>“Oh, well.” Aradia shrugged. “Better us than some poor saps who don’t have any experience.”</p><p>There was a chorus of agreement around the table.</p><p>“Besides,” Aradia added, grinning, “a big fleet just means that we have a whole lot of targets to pick from.”</p><p>Jade laughed; it was pretty clear that Aradia wasn’t the kind of person who ever shied away from danger.</p><p>“What are you guys in Intelligence getting up to?” asked Karkat. “Any operations against Celanon?”</p><p>“Oh, no, we’re gonna-” Jade stopped herself. Rose hadn’t said to keep it secret, but it was probably still a good idea. “Actually, I think that’s classified. Let’s just say that we’ll be behind enemy lines.”</p><p>“Ooh, sounds fun.” said Aradia. “Feel free to call us if you need anything blown up for you again.”</p><p>Jade suddenly recalled that Rose was planning on sneaking in some ‘heavy equipment’, and that Rose often used that phrase when she meant ‘starfighters’.</p><p>“You know, I must just take you up on that.” Jade smiled.</p><p>“Enough about war stuff already.” said Chixie, who was apparently tired of the subject. “Has anyone managed to catch any good music lately?”</p><p>After a highly amusing discussion about music where Karkat tried in vain to argue for the merits of sappy Iridonian pop songs about love without admitting he liked them and Jade learned about a whole bunch of alien music genres that she would have to go and check out later, it was late enough that people started heading off to bed.</p><p>As Aradia was about to leave, Jade decided to just go ahead and shoot her shot; there was a war on, after all, so there was no sense in not seizing the moment. She leaned forward across the table, closer to Aradia.</p><p>“I really am very grateful to you for the save.”</p><p>“You’re more than welcome.” Aradia smiled at her. “I’d have hated to miss out on meeting you, after all.”</p><p>“Still, I can’t help but feel like I owe you a bit.” Jade smiled slyly. “And if you’re up for it, I can think of a really <em>fun</em> way to pay you back.” She winked at Aradia.</p><p>“Is that so?” Aradia leaned closer to Jade. “You know you don’t have to, right?”</p><p>“Oh, sure.” Jade agreed. “But it’s not often I get saved by such a good-looking pilot, you know? May as well go along.”</p><p>“Good-looking, am I?” Aradia grinned.</p><p>“Yep!”</p><p>“Well, that makes two of us.”</p><p>Aradia looped a hand around the back of Jade’s head and pulled her in for a kiss, holding her close for a few moments before backing away.</p><p>“Your place or mine?” Aradia asked.</p><p>“I think mine’s closer.”</p><p>“Lead on, then.”</p><p>Jade smiled as the two of them left the cantina arm in arm. She always did like getting to know new people.</p>
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